Month / April 2014

Hectic March has just finished and I’m looking ahead to April and May, our first Transatlantic Apollo tour and new plans for LOCUS.

The above photo was taken at a full day event we held at UpFront Gallery near Penrith with Jazz North and BlueJam Arts. (It confirms that my default face is angry, though I promise I had a lovely time…!) We had a fantastic day and I was blown away by standard of musicianship and of creativity that Jilly Jarman and her team inspire in people. I really hope we work with them again soon. It’s days like that one that confirm to me why I spread my work across both the performance side and the industry side of jazz.

APOLLO – We are gearing up to welcome Fat Face Trio to the UK from North Carolina for their May/June tour. We’ve got 11 dates across the UK lined up for them and I’m certain it will a great tour. We’re just firming up all the promotion for them now so look out for a full list o tour dates being revealed soon.

LOCUS – Leah and I are working on plans for more recording and more gigs this year with LOCUS. I’m so ready to play with them again and work on some new material. Regardless of the fact that we live 3000 miles apart, it’s great to find another musician with whom you work so well and I am determined to build on last year’s tour success and take another step forward with the band.

Jazz Education Conference – I am pleased to be on the bill as a speaker for this year’s Scottish Jazz Education Conference on August 29th. My session is entitled ‘Learning Jazz from the Nursery to Professional Musicianship’ and I’m honoured to be featured alongside the musicians who had such a large impact on me as a young musician; Richard Michael, Tommy Smith and Richard Ingham.

I’m looking forward to some great gigs coming up – a sextet performance at Seven Arts in conjunction with Jazz Yorkshire and the Yorkshire Festival in June and an appearance at the Marsden Jazz Festival with Louise Gibbs and her septet in the autumn. After that, our LOCUS tour kicks off and some more dates will be announced soon.